The Guide to Buying the Best Flounder Gig For Sale
Flounder Gigs are the core item in the flounder gigging and fish gigging sport that will first and foremost make or break your fishing trip. This blog will discuss some of the talking points commercial, recreational, professional, and amateur fishermen have inquired about during the search of their flounder gig.
5 Tips to Buy the Best Gig:
Whether you are gigging flounder, bowfin, suckers, sheepshead, bullhead, frogs, carp, gar, or drum, a quality fish gig will go a long way in accomplishing the task of gigging the fish and preventing them from flopping off before you pull them in the boat or on shore.
5 Tips to Buy the Best Gig:
1 - Strength
Whether you are gigging flounder or any other fish, the strength of the gig is often the most overlooked aspect that can end your trip early. The gig should have a professional weld seam or be machined to form a uniform solid piece.
LOOK OUT FOR: A common cost savings measure is for manufacturers to tack weld the tines to a thin sheet metal-like housing. Other manufacturers will thread screws on the end of the gig to screw into a metal pole, which overtime can cause threads to seize up from saltwater exposure, become stripped, bend, or a weak link that can break when poling a flounder boat.
We spend most of our time flounder gigging from a boat, but sometimes we opt to wade and gig. When poling from the boat, the flounder gigs are used to push the boat off the shore when it's too shallow or towards the shore when it's too deep. It’s important to consider these implications when searching for a flounder gig. There are few gigs that have the solid foundation that is required to hold up to this abuse.
2 - Corrosion Resistance
Flounder gigging is done in bays, which is made of some of the harshest saltwater there is. Corrosion resistance is extremely important when gigging, and can determine whether your flounder gig lasts one trip or several trips.
- To ensure your gig lasts a long time, make sure it is completely resistant to corrosion.
- There are many alloys that are strong that would make good fish gigs, but there are few alloys that are made for flounder gigging.
- Fish gigging can be done in freshwater while flounder gigging is saltwater only.
- The best flounder gigs are going to be made from a premium grade of stainless steel, titanium, or tungsten carbide.
- Premium grades of stainless steel include 316 or 17-4 stainless steel.
- Grades that are lower than this are almost guaranteed to fail. We recommend staying away from steel or even 304 stainless steel flounder gigs.
LOOK OUT FOR: Manufacturers will powder coat typical iron steel or they will use a low grade stainless steel such as 304 or 308 and claim it is resistant to corrosion. The truth is, as soon as you use the gig, it will start corroding and weakening the second it touches saltwater. We have tested several powder coated gigs in the past, and the powder coat falls off the first time you gig a flounder. The sand and rocks on the bay bottom will also remove the powder coat. It is actually a bit unsafe, because the powder coat material can be left inside the fish fillets after being gigged. The low grade stainless steels are not a good option for similar reasoning, the rust not only weakens the gig but it can be injected into the fish fillets when you gig them. 304 and 308 stainless steels are very cheap alternatives that classify as "stainless" but are not corrosion resistant. You are better off finding a good company that sells quality flounder gigging equipment and purchasing a flounder gig that will hold up for the long haul.
When searching for a gig, make sure it is 316 stainless steel, titanium or tungsten carbide. Out of these materials, 316 stainless steel is the most cost effective and maintains extreme resistance to corrosion.
3 - Sharpness
When gigs are pushed into oyster shell, rocks, and sand, the tips can be filed down and result in becoming very dull. Sharpness is important for consistently sticking fish all night long.
- If the gig isn’t resistant to corrosion, this can really cause a nightmare on maintaining a sharp point.
- A sharp gig will penetrate fish very quickly, reducing the likelihood of the fish getting away.
4 - Fish Retention
Having good retention on the fish you gig is very important because what good is a bunch of stabbed fish that are still swimming? Likewise, less experienced giggers are not always the best aim.
- A poorly gigged fish has a high chance of flopping off the gig.
- The same goes for big flounder that are gigged with poorly made fish spears.
- There is no bigger heartache than your flounder gig falling off while bringing in a big fish.
LOOK OUT FOR: Many fish spears will have a small barb similar to a fish hook on the end of the prongs. These are one point of contact to hold the fish on. When the fish flops, they can bypass these small barbs and fall off back into the water. On the other end, some flounder gigs have really large extended barbs, which can excessively damage the flounder meat. Although you keep the fish on, you will damage a lot of meat while trying to take the fish off.
We recommend a gig that has multiple points of contact to keep the fish on while not excessively damaging the meat when you go to take them off.
5 - Size
The size of the gig is important because if its too small, you have a large margin for error which can result in missing fish. If it’s too big, it can be bulky to carry around and make it difficult to quickly stab fish.
A fish gig that is just right will be about the same width as a flounder, with spacing proper for having at least two prongs in any fish species you may be targeting.
The best flounder gig - our recommendation
Going flounder gigging is a one of a kind experience that is equally about having a fun time as well as catching some of the best seafood one can eat. It is important to utilize a tool that is not only resilient enough for years to come, but is made from corrosion resistant material that that is not going to rust and contaminate the fish fillets. Our recommendation is a Flounder Gig which exceeds all of the criteria listed above:
1 - crafted to be a uniform, solid piece of pure grade stainless steel. It’s strength is beyond any other gig it compares to.
2 - Made from kitchen grade and corrosion resistant 316 stainless steel, it has a very high resistance to corrosion, guaranteeing a long life of gigging.
3 - The gigs are sharpened prior to shipment for maximum penetration on even the fastest moving fish.
4 - Unlike conventional barbs, this flounder gig has a 360 degree barb that will keep fish on long enough to pull in the boat, while not excessively damaging the fish fillets.
5 - There are 5 tines on the gig, spaced efficiently for gigging a wide variety of fish. It’s compact enough to quickly stab a fish while wide enough to enhance your spearing efficiency.
Outrigger Outdoors was founded on their 3 prong and 5 prong Flounder Gigs, prior to their development of other flounder gigging products. This Flounder Gig continues to serve as the staple of the business and continues to lead the industry in the strongest, sharpest, and most resilient flounder gig you can find at an economical price. You can even make life a little easier by mounting a Fish Rake in your cooler or fish box. These gigs hold on super tight, and the fish rake takes them off with ease.
TRH
Hi Sean,
To answer your question – we recommend using 3/4-inch aluminum pipe as a pole. We have several commercial fishermen and flounder gigging guides who have used virtually every pole across the books including wooden dowels, bamboo, galvenized pipe, PVC, broom handles, and more.
The most effective pole they have used is aluminum pipe because it has a high strength while also being light weight and cost effective. Based on their feedback, we designed our flounder gigs to slide onto the end of a 3/4-inch nominal sized aluminum pipe and fasten in place with the stainless steel bolt we provide with each gig. Check out our flounder gigs here for more information: https://outriggeroutdoors.com/products/flounder-gig-1
Thanks!
TRH
Sean
What sort of pole do you have the most success with ?
Thanks